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Algerian Accused Of Planning To Bomb Los Angeles Airport
LOS ANGELES (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - U.S. federal prosecutors have accused an Algerian, Ahmed Ressam, and co-conspirators, of planning to bomb Los Angeles International Airport (LAX), or two smaller Southern California airports, last year during the Millennium celebrations.
Ressam, now 33, was stopped in Washington state on December 14,1999, by U.S. Border Patrol agents after driving a rental car from Canada into Port Angeles, a border city in Washington state.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Francis J. Diskin and colleagues said that Canadian authorities seized a map from Ressam's former Montreal apartment that had circles drawn around LAX, Long Beach and Ontario Airport.
Washington authorities said they found large amounts of explosives materials and several timing devices, enough to level several buildings, in Ressam's car.
Ressam was later indicted on nine felony counts, including conspiring to destroy or damage people or buildings in the United States and conspiring to bring explosives into the country.
Authorities say that Ressam has connections to an Algerian "terrorist" organization.
The new court filing also contends that Ressam had a French guidebook to California when he was arrested, as well as maps of Washington, California and Oregon.
"Lots of people have maps with LAX on them. It can mean a lot of things," said Bernard Wilson, the chief of security at LAX and Ontario airports, on Friday.
"Quite possible he may have circled them as a place to fly from or to after doing something else," added Wilson who believes that the maps could almost mean anything and said he was never notified by authorities about any potential risk.
Tom Hillier, Ressam's lead defense attorney, said on Friday that he learned only last week that prosecutors believe their case may include activities in Southern California.
"They say California all of a sudden, and we think, what is this all about?" said Hillier, chief federal public defender in Seattle.
Authorities have not declared where they thought Ressam, and at least three alleged associates, were planning to launch one or more attacks.
In the hope that Ressam would be treated fairly, publicity about the case later prompted John Coughenour, a U.S. district judge, to move the trial from Seattle to Los Angeles.
Ressam, who has pleaded not guilty to all charges, faces life in prison if convicted on all counts.
Two alleged accomplices, Mokhtar Haouari and Abdel Ghani Meskini, have also pleaded not guilty after their indictment in New York on charges that they conspired to provide Ressam with logistical and financial assistance.
Prosecutors have strongly opposed moving the trial to Los Angeles, citing the difficulty of moving judges, witnesses, the jury and security teams.
Diskin said that the yearlong delay in bringing the case to trial has allowed most of the publicity to subside, mitigating concerns that Ressam could not get a fair trial in Seattle.
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